The value of relatives
by Lt.AliciaWashington
Summary: It s about Lady Felicity Marchwood, portrayed by Julie Andrews in the movie Relative Values, most other characters from the movie and in there as well, let me know if anyone is reading it, then I will continue.


Felicity Marchwood was sitting on the sofa in her library, a tea cup in her hand and a book in her lap but she wasn´t reading, instead she was listening to the pouring rain outside while trying to overcome the intense feeling of loneliness that often plagued her since her husband´s death a year ago.

At sixty Felicity was a remarkable attractive woman with golden blonde hair and blue eyes and she found herself the object of many men´s admiration but she didn´t even bother to try and tell whether they were really interested in her or in her fortune.

Nigel, her son and the designed future Lord Marchwood had just broken up with his latest girlfriend Caroline but Felicity wasn´t surprised, her son had never shown much direction in life and as much as she had tried she hadn´t been able to change that fact.

The library door opened and a tender smile spread over the woman´s face at the sight of her nephew, Peter.

"Am I disturbing you?"

Peter had recently gotten engaged to a nice young lady he had met at a party in London and Felicity enjoyed helping the couple planning a summer wedding.

Peter´s mother had died early and his father Edward, the late Lord of Marchwood´s brother, had left his son in the capable hands of his sister in law rather than take the young boy abroad on his many travels, wanting to ensure a good education and stability in Peter´s life.

So Peter had spend most of his holidays at Marchwood Manor and Felicity loved him dearly, sometimes she wondered if she loved him as much or perhaps even more than Nigel but she usually tried to rid herself of those thoughts as quickly as possible for they gave her headaches.

"Of course not, Darling, do come in- would you like a cup of tea?"

"Tea sounds wonderful- I´ll be so glad when all the planning is over."

Felicity purred the young man tea and handed him the cup, smiling sympathetically at him.

"It will all be wonderful, I promise, I´ve set my heart on you having a perfect wedding."

"Thank you, Aunt Liz, I´ll keep that in mind- that reminds me, have you seen Father anywhere since dinner?"

Felicity shook her head, her brother-in-law had arrived for a visit and to see his son.

"No, I don´t know where he is, he might have retired early."

"Without saying goodnight?"

Her nephew teased her and Felicity blushed, despite herself.

"Well, he will still be here tomorrow" she stated, sipping her tea in order to distract Peter but of course the young man wasn´t fooled.

"Ah, please, he wouldn´t just go to bed and without telling you."

"Peter!"

Felicity exclaimed, dismayed, she knew of course that Edward Marchwood appreciated her company as well as her beauty, he never failed to tell her and his open admiration for her had led to some rather serious arguments between the two brothers.

It hadn´t helped that her husband had been fifteen years older than her and her brother-in-law had never failed to tell her that he, being almost twelve years younger than William Marchwood, would make a far better match for her.

"I´m sorry" her nephew´s amused voice interrupted her musings, "I didn´t mean to embarrass you."

A knock at the door made them both look up and Felicity blushed even deeper when her brother-in-law entered the library, looking devastatingly handsome in his elegant dinner jacket.

"Here you are, I have been looking for you- am I interrupting?"

Felicity shook her head while Peter´s smile widened.

"Of course not, do you want some tea? Or perhaps rather something stronger?"

"Tea would be lovely" his father replied while settling down onto the sofa opposite his hostess.

"I´m afraid I can´t stay, I have a lot of planning to do tomorrow" Peter announced while handing his father a cup of tea.

He bent down and kissed his aunt´s cheek, then he smiled at his father.

"Amuse her for me, will you" he winked, then he bid them both goodnight and left the room, leaving Felicity uncomfortably aware of Edward´s eyes on her.

"I thought you had gone to bed early" she attempted to break the ice, straightening up in her comforter.

"Without saying goodnight? You should know me better than that, Lizzi."

He always had called her that and secretly she liked it, it sounded so soft, so feminine.

"Should I?"

She teased him back, hating herself for the flirtatious note in her voice, encouraging him wasn´t exactly the wisest way to deal with him, unless she wanted to encourage him of course- did she want that?

Sometimes she didn´t know what she wanted herself- being alone wasn´t exactly pleasant and he was handsome and funny and charming and of course a decent match, unless one counted the little insignificant fact that he was her dead husband´s brother and that it would look like as thought they had been having an affair behind her husband´s back before his death.

"You are thinking too much" Edward stated calmly while stirring his tea, "it´s not half as complicated as you make it."

"Of course it is, you never think before you act and you don´t care about the consequences but I have to, I can´t just give in to my emotions."

"So there are emotions regarding me?"

He smirked and Felicity cursed herself for having been so stupid.

"That isn´t the point and you know it, don´t try to make me believe you don´t, it won´t work."

"You are right, I do know that you find me irresistible, most women do, it´s just something I have to live with" he sighed, then hastily ducked when Felicity threw a cushion at him.

"Getting violent, Milady? How utterly out of character."

"Oh stop it" she huffed, putting her tea cup down onto the table and glaring at him.

"Why can´t you find a pastime that doesn´t include bothering me?"

"You like being bothered, you´re just too proud to admit it- keep it up, it´s becoming you."

"What is?"

"The don´t look, don´t touch attitude, men like a good chase, it´s an interesting challenge."

"You think I´m acting like this to attract you?"

She asked, incredulously, that man´s ego was growing at an alarming speed.

"Subconsciously you just might."

Edward shrugged nonchalantly, then he reached for the tea pot and refilled his cup while Felicity tried to regain her composure.

The nerve of him- of course she was not trying to provoke him in any way, she was a respectable person, a lady- he looked up and smiled at her and Felicity felt herself returning the smile despite herself.

"See- you´d love to give in, Lizzi, you´re simply too stubborn for it."

"I´m not stubborn at all- and if you weren´t such a brute you would stop this nonsense right now and try and have a civilized conversation with me."

"Fine, I will do my best then- how was Ascot this year, I´ve heard there were quite a few surprising outcome, some of my friends have lost huge sums betting on the wrong horse."

"Well, it was rather interesting, the results were most satisfying for me though, my three year olds both won in their categories which meant a handsome prize money."

"Good for you then- so where are these prized possessions of your´s, have you brought them back to Marchwood?"

"Naturally, you know me, I`m not one to sell as soon as the prize sounds good enough, I intend to keep both of them for breeding purposes."

"Care to show them to me tomorrow?"

Felicity nodded, smiling excitedly.

"Of course, we can go out for a ride in the morning after breakfast."

"Wonderful, I adore you in riding gear- mind you, I always adore you."

He seized her hand and kissed it, his lips lingering far too long on her skin and to her utter dismay Felicity felt herself blush.

"Edward, really- I think you had too much to drink."

"Not at all, though I do feel a bit intoxicated- I´d rather blame it on your company than on your excellent Martinis though."

Felicity briefly closed her eyes, her heart was racing and her cheeks felt even warmer than before.

"I think I should go to bed- it´s very late and there are a lot of decisions to make tomorrow."

"Regarding the wedding?"

Edward asked, still holding her hand, his thumb caressing her sensitive skin, causing Felicity to shiver.

"Yes- the wedding, of course- isn´t it all exciting, I can´t believe Peter is already settling down, I wish Nigel had a little bit more direction."

"You do? From what I have heard he was rather determined to get married last year."

"You mean that terrible ordeal with Miranda Frayle? That wasn´t determination, it was just another of Nigel´s more absurd ideas."

"Don´t be so hard on the boy, he isn´t doing it to make you miserable, he just hasn´t found the right one."

"He has found dozens of right ones, don´t worry about him- so shall we go to bed then?"

"Alone?"

Edward smiled at Felicity´s shocked gasp.

"Of course alone, I´m even afraid to ask what exactly you are implying."

"I can help you there- I had the faintest hope that you might allow me to accompany you to your room, undress you and make love to you for the rest of the night- but judging by your reaction that´s not very likely after all."

Felicity felt completely speechless but to her dismay that feeling went along with a familiar tingling of her skin and a shockingly increased heart beat.

"You are blushing prettily, my Dear- I suppose I have embarrassed you enough for tonight now, I will leave you alone- I might get back to the subject tomorrow though, so don´t feel too safe."

He leaned over to her and kissed her cheek, then he got up and with a last wink at her left the room, closing the door behind himself.


End file.
